Aware of Angels

They are drunk and amused with themselves.
And you are interested in going around them
With your particular interest who is leaning
On your steady arm.

A little air is what you both desire, but
The angels,

Drunk as lords and with no notion
Of your intentions, have raised
The blazing swords of their amusement
In your path.

Let them amuse you for a little moment.

The dance is as close as the limbo parlor
Outside the gate
Of hell, and it can wait.

The angels have a joke to tell you.

And when your partner, who is not your partner,
Turns her golden shoulder back to the dance,
There in limbo garden, I think you should pause,

Believe the masks your drunken friends have donned,

Bid her good-bye, and go to bed alone.

Copyright © 2007 Mark Jarman All rights reserved
from New Letters
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission